The current Hawks ownership group was forced to sell the team after Bruce Levenson made racially insensitive remarks in an internal email sent back in 2012.
The bidding was down to two groups a few weeks back, and now it appears as though a deal has been finalized.
From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:Private equity billionaire Antony Ressler is leading a group that is finalizing a deal to purchase the Atlanta Hawks, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Ressler’s group will purchase the team from majority owner Bruce Levenson for a figure somewhere between $750 million and $900 million, sources told Yahoo Sports.
Former NBA All-Star Grant Hill and Atlanta entrepreneur Jesse Itzler will be investors in the group, sources said.
Many wondered if the recent sale of the Clippers, which Steve Ballmer purchased for $2 billion, was the new benchmark for franchise values. But the process by which that deal was completed seems to have artificially inflated the price.Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders:
Hawks $730 million price illustrates how much Steve Ballmer overpaid for the Clippers not the new bench mark many hoped teams would command
— Steve Kyler (@stevekylerNBA) April 22, 2015Hasty sale of Clippers and blind bid process ballooned Clippers price from what should have been $1.2- $1.5 billion price.
— Steve Kyler (@stevekylerNBA) April 22, 2015The sale is expected to be announced north of $800 million, perhaps even as high as $850 million once it’s complete.
